“Google My Business” Replaces Google Places and Google+ Local

Signifying a major investment in local businesses on Wednesday, June 11th, Google rolled out the largest business-owner-facing launch in the history of the company.

“Google My Business” is now an all-encompassing platform for business owners to manage their listings, their reviews, Google+ posts and pages, website analytics, AdWords campaigns, and more!

This is a welcome improvement for anyone involved in orthodontic marketing online.
Here are seven new highlights of Google My Business (GMB):

      • The new URL and landing page is http://google.com/busines
      • Explicit calls to action from Google to help you complete your business listing
      • Ability to view and reply to all your Google reviews
      • “reviews around the web” offers a snapshot of your online reputation on other sites
      • An “app switcher” in the right corner of the dashboard enables quick navigation
      • Option to add a “virtual tour” of your office
      • Google Analytics and Google AdWords are built into GMB

This update happened at once, across the country, for all Google users. Google Places is no more — it has been absorbed into GMB. The same goes for Google+ Local: it too has been absorbed into Google My Business.

A big selling point for GMB is that it consolidates Google Places and Google+ Local into one dashboard. Having no more mixups or crossovers between Places and G+ is a great thing for business owners.

Here is the official Google promotional video introducing Google My Business: